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Friedemann Mattern , ETH Zurich
How to give good seminarpresentations – some hints
February 2015
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The 80-20 rule of presentations
80% presentation, 20% content?No!
Clearly, content is crucial
But content does not get through if presentation isConfusingBoringToo advanced (or too easy) for the audience
Too long (or too short)…
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Goal: Maximize benefit for the audience
Consider structure, layout, design of the presentation
What can be assumed the audience knows? What can’t?
How can we arouse interest in the audience?
Maximize knowledge transfer
Think of your audience – assume you are part of it
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Academic presentations
Limited time (e.g., 20, 30, or 45 minutes)Fix your milestones
Know when you should be where in your talk Be prepared to questions from the audience delaying your talk
Be ready to shorten your talk dynamically
Message A novel scientific result, a report onyour and/or others’ work
Make clear what is your contributionand what is general knowledge orresults achieved by others
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Plagiarism
Make a clear difference between your results andthose of others
Report all references and cite them properlyBriefly in the talk, but fully in the written report
Plagiarism has many formsCopy & paste without explicit citationParaphrase of text without referenceUnacknowledged adoption of ideas, structure, design, …
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Keep your presentation prosaic, objective, factual
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Convince with arguments , not with rhetoric You are not a salesperson
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Academic presentations (II)
Try to convince , not to persuade
Read and use the literature in a critical wayThe authors are almost always right
Read and use different referencesTypically, scientific articles are morereliable than information on the Web
You should understand 100%of what your are saying
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I think youshould be moreexplicit here in
step two
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Intellectual challenge and clarity of thought
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?
Information
processingin your head
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Information processing
Use your own wordsDo not paraphrase or just translatefrom other languages
Be careful with foreign languagesE.g., “Operating system” (EN) Betriebssystem (DE)
not: Operationssystem
Focus on relevant aspectsIdentification of the relevant aspects is the most important point
But give additional information or go into details when appropriate
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms whenever possible
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Preparation
Observe and evaluate otherspeakers
Do they do it well? Why? How?
Practice your talkUnder realistic conditions
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Test your presentation Animations, colors, …
Know your audienceCompetences, expectations
Dress properly
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Preparation (II)
Complete your preparation on timeNot just the night before…
Be on time the day of the presentationTake some time to check projector and laptop configurationWhat if something does not wok?
Be prepared for spontaneous drawingsClean the blackboard
Make sure chalks / markers are available
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Be prepared to questions and discussion
Allow time for it
Your answers should show that you
are competentHow you reply to questions could be animportant issue when your talk is used to
evaluate you (e.g., as part of a job interview)
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Outline
Basics
Preparing the slides
Giving the presentation
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Slide layout
Rule of thumb: only one train of thoughts per slideBullet points / key phrases instead ofcomplete sentences
Slide title should summarize the content of the slideIn a meaningful and self-contained way
Sometimes people only read the title of a slide( newspaper headlines)
For academic presentations avoid logo , name, date, etc.
on every slideThis is not a sales pitch
Adds background noiseRisk of drawing off attention from contentBut: Corporate design?
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Slide layout (II)
FontSans serif (e.g., “Arial” or “Tahoma”), not such a fontDo not mix (too many) different fonts (size / style) on a slide
Font sizeMust be “big enough” (rule of thumb?)
12pt , 16pt , 18pt , 20pt, 24pt , 28pt
Bullet pointsDo not “exaggerate” (no more than ~7 main items per slide)
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Slide layout (III)
Avoid overloading your slidesNot meant to provide full content
Be careful (and frugal) with animations
No point in quickly browsing through slidesone has not enough time for presenting
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Images, plots, and diagrams instead of text
“ A picture is worth a thousand words. ” But avoid too striking pictures (unless youwant to shock / provoke your audience)
Plots / diagrams must help you inmaking your point
They must be easy to explain / understand
Photographs convey emotions ,graphics and drawings convey exactness
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Schemes and graphics, an example
A cluster has the following form:
ident = CLUSTER [parms] IS ident
cluster_bodyEND ident
cluster_body = REP = type_spec
routine {routine}routine = procedure
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CLUSTER IS REP = ...
END
cluster body
Much better:- Striking
- Less text- Less forward references
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The power of colors
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Outline
Basics
Preparing the slides
Giving the presentation
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Start with an outline of the talk?
A matter of taste
Do not spend too much time explaining the outlineHigh risk of boring your audienceList few, self-explaining items
A (negative) example:Introduction [Necessary?] Topic 1
Subtopic 1 bla bla [Avoid nested bullet points in the outline!]
Topic 2…Topic 7 [too many items!] Summary [Necessary?]
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Make a good start
Be happy!
Look at your audienceNot at slides, laptop, window, …Not at one single person (e.g., professor)
Friendly start of the talk WelcomePresent yourself Present your topicIf applicable, put your presentation in context(e.g., relation to previous presentations in the seminar)
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Beware of yourself!
Look At your audience
SpeakSlowly (enough)Loud (enough)FluentlyFree (do not memorize your talk!)Pause if necessary or appropriate
MoveSlowly (avoid hopping around)Use your mimic (hands / body)Do not stand between the projector and the projected area
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Almost done
Do not leave important questions unansweredat the end of the presentation
Open issues should be explicitly addressed (e.g., future work)
Provide a summary of the main message of yourpresentation
Try to close the circle: link the results at the end to themotivating questions at the beginning
Make clear that the end of the talk has comeKeep on looking at the audienceThank and the audience
Ask for questions
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Summary
Understand your topic
Be well prepared
Structure and balance your talk wellThink of your audience
Keep the time
Stay calm, be flexible… and it will be a great success !!
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Friedemann Mattern , ETH Zurich
How to give good seminarpresentations – some hints
Pictures from: www.leander.lib.tx.us/ LILT/citing andwww1.ku-eichstaett.de/PPF/PDMueller/lerntech/referat/